Indoor unit for air conditioner and control method thereof

Abstract

Provided is an indoor unit for an air conditioner buried in a ceiling and including a heat exchanger with respect to an indoor space defined by a bottom surface, the ceiling, and a plurality of wall surface, including: a front panel where a suction part suctioning air of the indoor space; a discharge hole placed on at least one side of the suction part and discharging heat-exchanged air from the heat exchanger; an opening member provided movably to selectively open the discharge hole; a distance sensing unit sensing at least one of a distance up to the bottom surface from the front panel or the indoor unit and a distance up to the wall surface from the indoor unit; and a controller controlling the opening degree of the opening member based on a sensing result sensed by the distance sensing unit.

What is claimed is (us): 
     
         1 . An indoor unit for an air conditioner buried in a ceiling and including a heat exchanger with respect to an indoor space defined by a bottom surface, the ceiling, and a plurality of wall surface, comprising:
 a front panel provided with a suction part suctioning air of the indoor space;   a discharge hole placed on at least one side of the suction part and discharging heat-exchanged air from the heat exchanger;   an opening member provided movably to selectively open the discharge hole;   a distance sensing unit sensing at least one of a distance up to the bottom surface from the front panel or the indoor unit and a distance up to the wall surface from the indoor unit; and   a controller controlling the opening degree of the opening member based on a sensing result sensed by the distance sensing unit.   
     
     
         2 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 1 , wherein the distance sensing unit includes:
 a height sensing sensor sensing an installation height of the front panel or the indoor unit; and   a wall surface sensing sensor sensing the distance up to the wall surface from the front panel or the indoor unit.   
     
     
         3 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 2 , wherein the height sensing sensor is the wall surface sensing sensor. 
     
     
         4 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 3 , wherein the distance sensing unit further includes a direction switching motor sensing both the installation height and the distance up to the wall surface by switching a placement direction of the height sensing sensor. 
     
     
         5 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a fan assembly providing blowing force to corresponding to the distance value sensed by the distance sensing unit; and   a memory unit storing data in which the distance value and the flow rate of the fan assembly are mapped.   
     
     
         6 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 1 , wherein the opening member is provided in multiple numbers and the plurality of opening members are placed to face the plurality of wall surfaces, respectively to discharge air. 
     
     
         7 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 6 , wherein the controller independently controls opening or not or opening degree of the plurality of opening members. 
     
     
         8 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 7 , wherein the opening degrees of the plurality of opening members are controlled in proportion to the distances up to the wall surfaces corresponding thereto, respectively. 
     
     
         9 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a temperature sensing unit sensing the temperature of the indoor space,   wherein the controller compensates for a difference between a set temperature and the temperature of the indoor space based on the result sensed by the distance sensing unit.   
     
     
         10 . An indoor unit for an air conditioner buried in a ceiling and including a suction part suctioning air and heat exchanger exchanging heat with the air suctioned in the suction part with respect to an indoor space defined by a bottom surface, the ceiling, and a plurality of wall surface, comprising:
 a discharge hole placed on at least one side of the suction part and discharging heat-exchanged air from the heat exchanger;   a blowing fan providing driving force to discharge the air through the discharge hole;   a discharge vein provided on one side of the discharge hole to selectively opening the discharge hole;   a height sensing unit sensing an installation height of the indoor unit; and   a controller controlling RPM of the blowing fan or opening degrees of the discharge veins based on the installation height of the indoor unit sensed by the height sensing unit.   
     
     
         11 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 10 , wherein the flow rate generated by controlling the driving of the blowing fan or the discharge vein varies linearly to corresponding to the installation height. 
     
     
         12 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 11 , wherein the flow rate increases in proportion to the installation height. 
     
     
         13 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a plurality of wall surfaces, a plurality of discharge holes corresponding to the plurality of wall surfaces, and a plurality of discharge veins opening the plurality of discharge holes, and   at least one wall surface sensing unit recognizing distances up to the plurality of wall surfaces from the indoor unit.   
     
     
         14 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 13 , wherein the plurality of discharge veins include:
 a first discharge vein controlling the amount of air discharged toward a first wall surface; and   a second discharge vein controlling the amount of air discharged toward a second wall surface,   wherein an opening degree of the first discharge vein is controlled to be larger than an opening degree of the second discharge vein when a distance up to the first wall surface from the indoor unit is larger than a distance up to the second wall surface from the indoor unit.   
     
     
         15 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 13 , further comprising a direction switching unit switching the direction in which the wall surface sensing unit faces the plurality of wall surfaces. 
     
     
         16 . The indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a temperature sensing unit sensing the temperature of the space,   wherein the controller recognizes a first temperature difference between the temperature of the indoor space sensed by the temperature sensing unit and a set temperature and when the installation height of the indoor unit is higher than a predetermined height, the controller compensates for the first temperature difference as a second temperature difference larger than the first temperature difference.   
     
     
         17 . A control method of an indoor unit for an air conditioner buried in a ceiling and including a heat exchanger for cooling or heating and discharge vein controlling the discharge amount of air passing through the heat exchanger with respect to an indoor space defined by a bottom surface, the ceiling, and a plurality of wall surface, comprising:
 sensing an installation height of the indoor unit based on the bottom surface;   determining the discharge amount of the air based on the installation height of the indoor unit; and   starting the indoor unit.   
     
     
         18 . The control method of an indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 sensing a distance up to the indoor unit from the wall surface; and   determining the discharge amount of the air based on the distance up to the indoor unit from the wall surface.   
     
     
         19 . The control method of an indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 17 , wherein the discharge amount of the air is controlled by controlling the RPM of a fan motor providing blowing force or opening degrees of the discharge vein. 
     
     
         20 . The control method of an indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 a plurality of discharge veins discharging air toward the plurality of wall surfaces,   wherein the amounts of air discharged from the plurality of discharge veins are different from each other depending on the distances up to the indoor unit from the plurality of wall surfaces.   
     
     
         21 . The control method of an indoor unit for an air conditioner of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 sensing the temperature of the indoor space;   recognizing a difference value between the temperature of the indoor space and a set temperature; and   compensating for the difference value through increasing or decreasing depending on the installation height of the indoor unit.